Lock timer



Dec. 2, 1969 H. J. LINGAL. 3,481,166

LOCK TIMER Filed Dec. l2, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet l Dec.-2, 1969 H.J. I-INGAL 3,481,166

l I LOCK TIMER Filed Dec. l2, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTO ATTOzA/Ev'sUnited States Patent O 3,481,166 LOCK TIMER Harry J. Lingal, Hamilton,Ohio, assignor to The Mosler Safe Co., Hamilton, Ohio, a corporation ofNew York Filed Dec. 12, 1967, Ser. No. 689,956 Int. Cl. Eb 43/00; E05c19/00 U.S. Cl. 70-267 17 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device tobe attached to a conventional lock to delay opening of a closure towhich the lock is attached for a predetermined time interval after thelock is opened. 'Ille delay is provided by a pneumatic timing devicewhich controls the rate of movement of an auxiliary bolt after openingof the main lock bolt. Only after both the lock bolt and the auxiliarytimer bolt have moved to an unlocked condition may the door bolt beopened.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Lock timers and time delay mechanisms havelong been known and used commercially to delay the opening of a safe orVault door for a predetermined time interval after opening of a safelock. However, the only timers now available and used commercially areexpensive, complicated escapement type time clocks. Consequently, therehas been a long standing need for an inexpensive, dependable time delayunit useable in combination with a lock to provide a time delay afterthe lock is opened before the closure or door secured by the lock may beopened.

It has, therefore, been a primary objective of this invention to providean inexpensive, dependable lock timer mechanism operable in combinationwith a lock to prevent the lock from opening for a predetermined timeinterval after opening manipulation of the lock.

The time delay unit of this invention which accomplished this objectivecomprises a piggy-back pneumatic lock timer adapted to be mounteddirectly upon the housing of a combination lock and to cooperate withthe bolt of the lock to provide a predetermined time delay after openingmanipulation of the lock before it may be opened. This time interval isaccurately repeatable and is adjustable so that it may be setto delaythe opening for a few seconds up to an hour or more.

Briey, the timer comprises an attachment adapted to be secured directlyto a combination lock housing so as to form an integral lock mechanismassembly with a built in time delay. The delay is provided by apneumatic diaphragm valve having a valve body movably mounted within ahousing. By adjusting the setting of a plug within the valve body, therate of admission of air into a diaphragm chamber may be regulated so asto vary the rate of movement of the valve body relative to the housing.A bell crank shaped auxiliary bolt is pivotally attached to the housingand has one end secured to the valve body and the opposite end locatedin the path of. travel of the combination lock bolt. When the bolt ofthe combination lock is thrown to a locked position, the end of theauxiliary bolt is simultaneously moved into a blocking position relativeto a bolt bar of the door or closure. Upon unlocking of the combinationlock, the lock bolt is immediately withdrawn from a blocking positionrelative to the bolt bar but the auxiliary bolt remains locked and ismoved into a non-blocking position upon movement of the valve body at arate which is controlled by the rate of admission of air into thediaphragm chamber. Only after the predetermined delay and after thechamber is filled with air is the bell crank moved to a completelynon-blocking position relative to the bolt bar.

3,481,166 Patented Dec. 2, 1969 A primary advantage of the time delayunit described hereinabove is that it provides a relatively inexpensivepiggy-back time delay unit which may be secured directly to the housingof a combination lock to provide a built in time delay aftermanipulation of the lock before the closure secured by the lock may beopened. The unit is much less expensive than commercially availableescapement type time clocks and is much less subject to breakdown orfailure. Because this unit costs a mere fraction of the cost of anescapement type time clock and because it is more durable, it has muchwider application than commercially available time delay units.Specifically the cost of this unit is so low as to make it practical foruse on security files or small safes to provide additional resistance tomanipulative or surreptitious attack. This additional protection isafforded by minimizing the number of combination attempts which may betested in a given time period by a burglar or a person attempting asurreptitious attack on the le or safe.

These and other objectives and advantages of this invention will be morereadily apparent from the following description of the drawings inwhich:

FIGURE l is a perspective view of a closure locking mechanism includinga combination lock and the lock timer mechanism of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a rear elevational View of the closure locking mechanism ofFIGURE 1 showing the locking mechanism in a locked condition.

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional View through the lock timer mechanismtaken on line 3 3 of FIGURE 2 but illustrating the locking mechanism inan unlocked condition.

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG- URE 3 butillustrating the locking mechanism in a locked condition.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view through the diaphragm valveof the lock timer taken on line 5-5 of FIGURE 2.

Generally, the lock timer 10 of this application is adapted to besecured directly to the rear wall 11 of a conventional combination lockhousing 12. The lock housing 12 is in turn aixed to the rear side 13 ofa door or closure 14 and has an arbor 15 extending through the door orclosure 14 which terminates in a dial (not shown) on the front side ofthe door. By manipulation of the dial, the lock may be opened and thebolt 17 of the lock moved between a locked and unlocked condition. Whenthe lock bolt 17 is in the locked position illustrated in FIGURE l, abolt bar 18 is secured against opening movement in the direction of thearrow 19. When the lock bolt 17 and an auxiliary bolt 16 of the timerare both in la retracted unlocked condition, the bolt bar 18 may bemoved in the direction `of the arrow 19 to an unlocked position.

The door or closure 14 may be a vault door or a safe door, a security ledoor, or any type of closure conventionally secured by a combination orother style of lock. While the invention has been illustrated as appliedto a combination lock, it is equally applicable to a key operated lock,a push button lock, an electrical lock, or any locking device. In fact,it may be applied to any type of security device to afford apredetermined time delay after the lock is opened before the door orclosure of the secured area may be opened.

The lock timer generally comprises a housing 20, a diaphragm 42, adiaphragm valve 21, a one-way check valve 22, a lock bar blockingbell-crank or auxiliary bolt 16, a pressure plate 43, an auxiliary boltmounting support and pressure plate guide ring 60, and biasing spring85. The housing 20 is secured to the rear wall 11 of the combinationlock by machine screws 91 which pass through projecting lugs 92 ofhousing 20, through the combination lock cover or rear wall 11 of thecombination lock and threadedly engaged tapped holes 95 in the lockhousing 12.

Timer mounting lugs 92 project below the housing as shown at 93 to holdthe front wall of the timer in spaced relation to the rear wall 11 ofthe combination lock so that a gap 28 is defined therebetween.

A truncated conical recess 30 is formed in the rear face of the housing20. This recess is connected by apertures such as 31, 32 to the space 28between the lock housing and the timer housing so that, as explainedmore fully hereinafter, air may escape through the apertures 31, 32 fromthe air chamber 90 defined by the recess 30.

The one-way check valve 22 comprises a cantilever spring 33 secured atone end by a screw 34 to a protrusion 35 on the front wall 27 of thehousing 20. At the other end, the cantilever spring 33 supports a metaldisc 36 having a rubber -washer or seal 37 attached to its rear face.The washer 37 tits over the -apertures 31, 32 in the housing 20 so as toseal them against admission of air while still permitting air underpressure to exit through the conduits 31, 32 by overcoming the force ofthe cantilever spring 33.

The diaphragm valve 21 comprises a valve body 40, a valve plug 41, adiaphragm 42, and Ia pressure plate 43.

Referring to FIGURE 5, it will be seen that the valve body `40 isgenerally cylindrical in shape and has a central aperture 45 machinedtherein. The rear end of the aperture 45 is threaded, as indicated at46, while the front end is tapered inwardly as indicated at 47 to definea tapered seat for the valve plug 41. A conduit or hole 57 is cut fromthe side wall of the body 40 so as to provide a side port into theinterior of the body.

Plug 41 has a large diameter threaded end section 50, a smaller diameterneck section 49, and a tapered front end section 48. A screw driver slot51 is machined in the rear face of the plug 41 so as to enable it to bethreaded into and out of the internally threaded aperture of the body 40to adjust the clearance between the tapered seat 47 and the tapered endsection 48 of the plug.

The tapered section 48 of the plug 41 is preferably long and has thesame taper as the seat 47. The taper need be -only a few degrees butshould be relatively long to obtain very fine time delay adjustment.Best results are obtained by keeping the plug diameter small, as forexample, 1/s of an inch, and the seat of a length approximately threetimes the diameter, thus providing considerable resistance to airmovement due to friction between the wall of the seat and the surface ofthe plug. Both surfaces are polished so as to eliminate air turbulenceand thus maintain accurate repeatability of the time delay setting.

A guide ring 60 is secured to the rear face of the housing 20 by thescrews 25 which extend through apertures in a radial flange 61 of thering. This ring serves to sealingly clamp the outer periphery of thegenerally annularly shaped diaphragm 42 to the rear face of the housing20 and to guide the movement of the pressure plate 43.

At its center, the diaphragm 42, which is made from a non porousflexible material such as Mylar, is sealingly sandwiched between laradial ange 64 of the Valve body 40 and a nut 65 which is threaded overexternal threads 66 on the valve body. The annular pressure plate -43 isalso sandwiched between the flange 64 and nut 65,

but is free at its periphery to slide within the guide ring or sleeve60.

A bell crank 67 is pivotally mounted between a pair of ears 68, 69 whichextend outwardly from the guide ring `60. This crank I67 serves as anauxiliary time delay bolt, as is explained more fully hereinafter. Itissupported upon a pivot pin 70 which extends through apertures 71, 72 ofthe bell crank `67 medially of its ends. The pin 70 in turn is supportedat its ends in the ears 68, 69 of the ring 60. At one end 73, the bellcrank 67 has an arcuate recess 74 machined therein from which protrudesa pair of inwardly extending fingers 75, 76. These lingers fit into anannular slot 77 in the valve body 40 and acts as trunnions forpiv-otally connecting one end of the bell crank 67 to the valve body 40.

From the pivot pin 70, the bell crank 67 has a second forwardlyextending leg 78 which terminates in an end section 79 located in thepath of travel of the combination lock bolt 17 and movable within arecess 80 of the bolt bar 18. When the bell crank 67 is in the lockedposition (illustrated in FIGURE l), the end 79 of the bell crank `67 islocated between an end wall 82 of the recess 80 and a block 81 welded orotherwise fixedly secured to the rear wall 13 of the closure 14. Thus,the end wall 82 of the recess 80 of the bolt bar 18 and an end wall 83of the block 81 define a slot within which the end 79 of the bell crankis movable under the control of the lock bolt 17 and the diaphragm valve21. When the lock bolt 17 is extended, it forces the end 79 of the bellcrank 67 outwardly into the slot defined between the end wall 82 of thebolt bar 18 and the end wall 83 of the side thrust resisting block 81.

A torsion spring 85 is mounted over the bell crank pivot pin 70 :betweenside walls of a rectangular aperture 86 cut from the bell crank 67. Thistorsion spring 85 has one end 87 in engagement with one leg 78 of thebell crank 67 and the other end 88 in engagement with a side wall 89 ofthe timer housing so that the spring normally biases the bell crank 67to the unlocked condition illustrated in FIGURE 3. When the combinationlock is thrown to a locked condition, the bolt 17 of the lock movesoutwardly from the wall 94 into the recess 80 of the lock bar and in sodoing, moves the leg 78 of the bell crank 67 outwardly into the recess80 as illustrated in FIGURES l and 4.

In operation, the spring 85 biases the bell crank 67 to the positionillustrated in FIGURE 3 in which the combination lock is unlocked andthe lock bolt 17 is withdrawn into the lock housing 12. In this positionof the bell crank 67 the valve body is in its rearwardmost position andthe air chamber 90 is filled `with air at atmospheric pressure.

When the combination lock is locked, the lock bolt 17 is thrown to alocked or extended position in which it engages the end 79 of the bellcrank -67 and forces it outwardly into the recess 80 of the lock bar 18.In moving the bell crank end 79 outwardly, the lock bolt 17 forces thevalve body 40 forwardly thereby exhausting the diaphragm chamber 90through the apertures 31, 32 and the one-way check valve 22. During thisinward movement of the valve body 40, the diaphragm 42 is engaged by thepressure plate 43 and forced forwardly so that the plate 43 precludesthe diaphragm 42 from ballooning and entrapping a pocket of air in thechamber 90. In other words, the pressure plate 43 forces all ofthe airfrom the chamber through the one-way check valve 22.

When the combination lock is opened and the combination lock bolt 17 iswithdrawn into the housing, the end 79 of the bell crank 67 temporarilyremains extended and located within the recess 80 between the end wall82 of the lock bar 18 and the end wall 83 of the side thrust resistinglblock 81. At this time, the torsion spring 85 forces the end section 79of the bell crank 67 out of the recess 80 but only at the rate permittedby the diaphragm valve 21. The valve body 40 can only move rearwardlyunder the bias of the spring 85 and bell crank 67 as air is admittedthrough the conduit 57 of the valve body past the tapered valve plug 48and tapered valve seat 47. As the valve body 40 moves slowly rearwardly,the end section 79 of the bell crank -67 is slowly extracted from thelock bar recess 80. After the end section 79 of the bell crank has beencompletely withdrawn from the recess 80, the lock bar may be moved inthe direction indicated by the arrow 19 to an unlocked condition and thedoor 14 thereafter opened.

While only a single preferred embodiment of my invention has beenillustrated and described herein, those skilled in the arts to whichthis invention pertains will readily appreciate numerous changes andmodifications which may be made without departing from the spirit of myinvention. Therefore, I do not intend to be limited except by the scopeof the appended claims.

' Having'described my invention, I claim:

1. For use in combination with a closure having a bolt bar mounted formovement to and from a locked position and a lock having a lock boltmovable into a blocking position relative to said bolt bar, a timingdevice for delaying opening movement of said bolt bar after opening ofsaid lock, said timing device comprising,

a housing,

a pneumatic valve comprising a valve body and a valve plug, said valvebody being movably mounted within said housing and said valve plug beingadjustably mounted within said body,

a diaphragm sealingly connected at its center to said valve body andconnected at its periphery to said housing so as to define an airchamber between said housing and said diaphragm,

a mechanical linkage engageable at one end with said valve and at theother end with said bolt bar, said other end of said linkage beingmovable into and out of a blocking position relative to said bolt bar inaccordance with the position of said valve, and

a spring for biasing said valve and said linkage to a non-blockingposition relative to said fbolt bar, said spring being operable to movesaid valve and said linkage toward a non-blocking position after openingof said lock at a rate determined by the rate of air passage throughsaid valve into said air chamber.

2. The timing device of claim 1 wherein said other end of said linkageis movable into a blocking position relative to said bolt bar byengagement lwith said lock bolt as it is moved into a locked condition.

3. The timing device of claim 2 which further comprises a one-way checkvalve for permitting the rapid escape of air from said air chamber uponmovement of said valve into a locked condition but which is operable toblockvthe entrance of air into said chamber upon movement of said valvetoward an unlocked condition.

4. The timing device of claim 1 wherein said device includes means forattaching said timing device housing directly to said lock.

5. For use in combination with a closure having a bolt bar mounted formovement to and from a locked position, a locking mechanism comprising alock and a timing device,

said lock having a housing and a lock bolt movable to and from ablocking position relative to said bolt bar,

said timing device comprising a housing,

mounting means for securing said timing device housing to said lockhousing,

a pneumatic timing valve having an element movably mounted within saidtiming device housing, and

a bolt bar blocking element engageable at one end with said valveelement and at the opposite end with said bolt bar, said opposite end ofsaid blocking element being engageable by said lock bolt to move it intoa blocking'position relative to said bolt bar, and

a spring for moving -said blocking element into a nonblocking positionrelative to said bolt bar at a rate determined by said pneumatic timingvalve after opening of said lock bolt.

6. The locking mechanism of claim 5 wherein said pneumatic timing valvecomprises a valve body movably mounted in said housing, an adjustableplug for controlling the rate of air passage through said valve, and adiaphragm connected near its center to said valve body and at itsperiphery to said housing so as to deiine an air chamber between saiddiaphragm and said housing.

7. The locking mechanism of claim 6 which further includes a one Waycheck valve for permitting the rapid escape of air from said air chamberupon movement of said valve body to a position in which said timingdevice is in a locked condition relative to said bolt bar.

8. The locking mechanism of claim 5 wherein said blocking element is agenerally L-shaped bar pivotally connected medially of its ends to saidtiming device and connected at said one end to said valve element.

9. For use in combination with a closure having a bolt bar mounted formovement to and from a locked position, 1 locking mechanism comprising acombination lock having a housing, said lock having a lock bolt movableto and from a blocking position relative to said bolt bar,

a timing device for delaying opening of said bolt bar for apredetermined time interval after opening of said combination lock, saidtiming device compris- 111g,

a timing device housing, said timing device housing being mounted uponand supported solely from said lock lhousing,

a pneumatic timing valve having valve element movably mounted withinsaid timing device housing, said valve being operable to control thetime delay after opening of said lock before said bolt bar may beopened,

a bolt bar blocking means engageable at one end with said valve elementand at the opposite end with said bolt bar, said blocking means beingmovable to and from a locking position relative to said bolt bar inaccordance with the positioning of said valve element within said timingdevice housing, and

a spring for biasing said locking means into a nonblocking positionrelative to said bolt bar.

10. The locking mechanism of claim 9 wherein said pneumatic timing valveincludes an adjustable valve plug operable to control the rate of airadmission into said timing device housing and thereby control the rateof movement of said movable valve element within said timing devicehousing.

11. The locking mechanism of claim 9 wherein said opposite end of saidblocking means is located in the path of travel of said combination lockbolt so that said blocking means is moved into a blocking positionrelative to said bolt bar against the bias of said spring by saidcombination lock bolt.

12. The locking mechanism of claim 11 wherein said blocking meanscomprises an element pivotally mounted medially of its ends on saidtiming device.

13. For use in combination with a closure having a bolt bar mounted formovement to and from a locked position, locking mechanism comprising,

a combination lock having a housing, said lock having a lock boltmovable to and from a blocking position relative to said bolt bar,

a timing device for delaying opening of said bolt bar for apredetermined time interval after opening of said combination lock, saidtiming device comprising,

a timing device housing, said timing device housing being mounted uponand supported solely from said lock housing, Y

a pneumatic timing means including a flexible diaphragm and an elementmovable mounted within said timing device housing, said element beingoperatively connected to said diaphragm, and

a bolt bar blocking means interconnected at one point to said elementand engageable at another point with said bolt bar, said blocking meansbeing movable to and from a locking position relative to said bolt barin accordance with the positioning of said element within said timingdevice housing.

14. The locking mechanism of claim 13 which further includes a springfor biasing said blocking means into 75 a non-blocking position relativeto said bolt bar.

15. The locking mechanism of claim 14 wherein a portion of said blockingmeans is located in the path of travel of said combination lock bolt sothat said blocking means is moved into a blocking position relative tosaid bolt bar against the bias of said spring by said combination lockbolt.

16. The locking mechanism of claim 15 wherein said blocking meanscomprises an element pivotally mounted medially of its ends on saidtiming device.

17. The locking mechanism of claim 13 wherein said timing deviceincludes an adjustable valve plug operable to control admission of airinto said timing device housing and thereby control the rate of movementof said exible diaphragm and movable element connected thereto aftersaid combination lock bolt is moved to a non-blocking position relativeto said bolt bar.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,989,419 1/1935 Hill 70-267 J.KARL BELL, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 109-59; 292--2

